IC makers gear up for new tire pressure monitor ruleNews & Analysis 11/26/2003 Post a commentThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could be on the verge of issuing a regulation that would put a microprocessor in every new tire, paving the way for semiconductor makers to provide automakers with 80 million chips a year.

Stage set for FCC debate on regulating VoIPNews & Analysis 11/26/2003 Post a commentWhen the FCC examines VoIP in landmark hearings Monday, the battle lines in the debate will be sharply drawn between the country's two sunny states -- California and Florida. California wants to regulate VoIP, Florida doesn't.

32-bit Secure Processor for Smart Card ICsProduct News 11/26/2003 Post a commentMurray Slovick looks at STMicro's new ST22FJ1M, a 32-bit smart card processor with 1Mb of embedded Flash memory. The chip's memory capacity and security features should open up a host of new opportunities in the mobile communications, pay-per-view TV, IT security and Identification markets.

Avanex to shut or sell Kymata optical components facilityNews & Analysis 11/26/2003 Post a commentAcquisitive optical components group Avanex Corporation has put the 'for sale' sign up on the Livingston, Scotland, facility that was originally established by arrayed waveguide gratings start-up Kymata, which was sold first to Alcatel Optronics in 2001 and then just months ago to Fremont, California based Avanex.

FPGAs will stifle EDA, analyst saysNews & Analysis 11/26/2003 Post a commentA growing trend towards FPGA design and a "precipitous" drop in ASIC design starts spells trouble for the EDA industry, according to a new market update issued by Erach Desai, analyst at American Technology Research. But Desai's predictions clash with a much more optimistic scenario from Gartner Dataquest.

Silicon Valley pioneer Kleiner dies at 80News & Analysis 11/26/2003 Post a commentWhen Eugene Kleiner, who died this week, and seven other scientists and engineers left Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory to start Fairchild Semiconductor in 1958, William Shockley said the loss of the eight would have "no real effect on the Shockley lab." Shockley eventually had to eat his words, as Kleiner and the others forged ahead to virtually build Silicon Valley while Shockley's business faded away.

Lead times extend for NAND, NOR flash memoryNews & Analysis 11/26/2003 Post a commentLead times for both NAND- and NOR-based flash memory continues to extend in the marketplace, due to exploding demand for cellular phones, digital cameras, camera phones and other products, according to an analyst with Semico Research Corp.

Secure data starts at homeNews & Analysis 11/26/2003 Post a commentIt can't be stated any more simply than this: Companies in the private sector are starting to be held to the same security standards as U.S. government agencies. So says InFocus contributor Arun Subarrao, the director of software engineering at LynuxWorks, who reports that Internet service providers, financial institutions and power companies are being forced to evaluate those of their operating systems and products that are part of the country's critical security infrastructure.

FPGAs will stifle EDA, analyst saysNews & Analysis 11/25/2003 Post a commentA growing trend towards FPGA design and a "precipitous" drop in ASIC design starts spells trouble for the EDA industry, according to a new market update issued by Erach Desai, analyst at American Technology Research. But Desai's predictions clash with a much more optimistic scenario from Gartner Dataquest.